“We know the Pak’ N Save chain is feeling the heat but there is no reason to deliberately mislead and deceive shoppers.” Mr Umbers urges shoppers to make their own price comparisons.

Pak'n Save and New World's online shopping sites now offer the option of sorting by price again. Foodstuffs attracted criticism from Consumer NZ when it removed the ability earlier this year.

“Pak’n Save has been a great place to shop for decades. It was a little different from the major grocery stores, but that was part of the attraction.